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Bakehouses Regulation Act, 1863," was repealed. The effect
of the transfer was to put an end to systematic inspection of
bakehouses in the Metropolis as' a whole; for the Factory
Inspectors were too few in number to take up the duty
which the Sanitary Authorities, as a rule, ceased to perform;
the result being that many of the bakehouses fell into a
deplorable state of neglect, as testified by reports of the Factory
Inspectors themselves. Happily, the representations addressed to
the Government by the Society of Medical Officers of Health and
others, endorsed as they were by the admissions and recommendations
of the Chief Factory Inspector himself, convinced
the Government that the Act of 1878 qua bakehouses was a
mistake ; and so it came to pass that, by the enactment of the
" Factory and Workshop Amendment Act," in the last days of
the Session of 1883, the Vestries and District Boards were
restored to their former position, and they are now the "Local
Authority," so far as relates to cleanliness, ventilation, overcrowding,
and other Sanitary conditions of bakehouses, with
power to enforce Sections 3, 33, 34 and 35 of the " Factory and
Workshop Act, 1878." Your Vestry had previously made
recommendations to the proper authorities, which went considerably
beyond the point reached by the new Act, and were
in substantial agreement with views set out in my annual
report for 1881, in which I stated that—
"What really is required is, a proper ' Bakehouse Regulation Act,' providing
for the licensing of bakehouses, and conferring on Sanitary Authorities
the power, which they should be obliged to exercise, of regulating the
trade by bye-laws, uniform for the Metropolis, dealing with—
(1) The position and construction, including lighting and
tion, of bakehouses;
(2) The periodical cleansing of bakehouses; and
(3) The materials and utensils employed in the manufacture of
bread."
That such a measure is desirable will hardly be contested,
but it was felt to be useless to press for any alteration in the
Bill of 1883; for, owing to the lateness of the period at which